EU Ambassador Aims to Help Ghana Develop Manufacturing

William Hanna sees the EU partnering with Ghana rather than increasing aid

William Hanna, EU Ambassador to Ghana

Newly appointed EU ambassador to Ghana, William Hanna, held his first press conference since his recent appointment. The EU provides up to 30% of Ghana’s international trade as well as foreign aid and investment.

Hanna highlighted the importance of ratifying the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which will encourage trade between the two regions. The EPA was finally agreed upon in July after 12 years of negotiations with ECOWAS leaders.

Mr Hanna said:

In the long term, I see the aid part declining. We want to move towards a more mature partnership, which is more towards our joint interests. The truth is our business people want to invest here and make money, and Ghanaians want to have a market for their products.

The EPA will provide the EU access to 75% of West Africa’s market in exchange for free access for Ghana to the EU.

Hanna added If you want to have manufacturing, you need to have access to the market and you need to have investment. The EPA will help to sustain growth, investment and job-creation.

To help the region adjust to the EPA, the European Bloc has promised to provide West Africa with €6.5bn worth of aid.